[REVISION HISTORY]

U.S. OCC stablecoin and cryptocurrency regulation

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2026-09-04 23:38 UTC → 2026-09-05 05:38 UTC · added ~~removed~~

The U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) has moved to integrate digital assets into the federal banking framework. Initially, industry groups including the Bank Policy Institute (BPI) and the American Bankers Association (ABA) provided feedback on proposed stablecoin requirements. While supporting anti-money-laundering and counter-terrorism financing frameworks, these groups urged for clearer consumer protection, liquidity safeguards, and fraud-risk guidance. Following these discussions, the OCC announced that national bank charters are now available to Bitcoin and cryptocurrency firms, allowing them to manage and custody assets under federal oversight. However, these charters do not currently permit retail deposits or primary lending activities. While no new licenses were announced in the most recent update, several companies—including Circle, Ripple, BitGo, Fidelity Digital Assets, and Paxos—have previously received conditional approval, with each application assessed individually. Tension remains regarding proposed stablecoin reporting requirements. The OCC has proposed that issuers submit weekly and quarterly reports detailing issuance, redemptions, and reserve assets. Banking groups have pushed back against these mandates, describing the requirement to report granular details, such as individual Treasury CUSIP numbers, as a “substantial burden” on issuers. Recent developments confirm that digital asset companies performing legally permissible activities have a formal pathway to obtain national bank charters, a move intended to formalize infrastructure for institutional adoption. There are currently 13 digital asset firms in the licensing pipeline, including Circle, Paxos, and Revolut. This follows the summer opening of Erebor Bank, a full-service national bank backed by Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund. Comptroller Jonathan Gould stated that the country is “open for business” regarding these regulatory pathways. In a significant expansion of this pathway, both Revolut and OpenReserve have received conditional approval from the OCC to establish national bank charters. Revolut, a UK-based firm, aims to launch U.S. operations, Revolut Bank US, by 2027.

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